In a private Instagram group chat, confessed school shooter Nikolas Cruz repeatedly espoused racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic views and displayed an obsession with violence and guns.

Wednesday, 19-year-old Cruz opened fire at the school that expelled him, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Authorities say he killed 17 with his legally purchased AR-15.

CNN, investigating comments the shooter may have left on a now deleted YouTube channel, was added to the private Instagram group by one of the active members in it. The responding group members, who appear to be younger than 18, have refused to confirm their identities to CNN on or off the record.

When asked for comment or whether they knew about the private chat group, the FBI directed CNN to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

Most of the conversation in the group since Cruz joined around August 2017 is between six people -- including Cruz.

"I hate jews, ni**ers, immigrants"

Racism was a constant theme in the chat group, which was called "Murica (American flag emoji) (eagle emoji) great" -- a name it was given by Cruz.

The hatred he and others in the group espoused met little resistance from its active members. In one part of the group chat, Cruz wrote that he hated, "jews, ni**ers, immigrants."

He talked about killing Mexicans, keeping black people in chains and cutting their necks. The statements were not made in jest.

There are hundreds of racist messages, racist memes and racist Instagram videos posted in the group.

One member even joked about Cruz's particular venomousness, saying that although he hated black people, too, he didn't "to a point I wanna kill the (sic) like nick."

Cruz said he hated black people simply because they were black; Cruz hated Jews because he believed they wanted to destroy the world.

After one member expressed hatred for gay people, Cruz agreed, saying, "Shoot them in the back of head."

White women drew Cruz's hatred as well, specifically those in interracial relationships, whom he referred to repeatedly as traitors.

More reason for the Pacific Coast to go its own way. WTF...who needs southerners? They are takers, not producers. And they they carry this ideological baggage. All of our problems would disappear if they were out of the picture.

“All of this could have been prevented,” said Melisa McNeill, the Broward assistant public defender who is leading the defense. “It makes me sick to my stomach because there are 17 people, including numerous children, who are dead and several others who are injured.”

The attorneys said the Snapchat incident alerted at least four local agencies — DCF, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Broward school district and Henderson Behavioral Health, one of the largest mental health providers in the county — that Cruz was in crisis and posed a potential danger to himself and others.

“Every single red flag was being thrown up by this kid, four days after his 18th birthday, and nothing was done to help him,” said Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes. “This community has been devastated. The system didn’t only fail him, it failed the entire community.”

Maddog wrote:“All of this could have been prevented,” said Melisa McNeill, the Broward assistant public defender who is leading the defense. “It makes me sick to my stomach because there are 17 people, including numerous children, who are dead and several others who are injured.”

The attorneys said the Snapchat incident alerted at least four local agencies — DCF, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Broward school district and Henderson Behavioral Health, one of the largest mental health providers in the county — that Cruz was in crisis and posed a potential danger to himself and others.

“Every single red flag was being thrown up by this kid, four days after his 18th birthday, and nothing was done to help him,” said Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes. “This community has been devastated. The system didn’t only fail him, it failed the entire community.”

Original Quill wrote:But if the FBI had moved preemptively against Cruz, you would be the first waving your sign on his street: due process of law...no reason to jail Nicholas Cruz!! Let him go free.

We live in an open society, not Russia. You know this more than most, as you are always defending the Bundy Circus.

Interviewing and assessing him would still be due process.

Yeah, but where does it lead? Right back on the street, again. Unless the mentally ill person's next of kin (spouse, parent or oldest child) is willing and able to commit him, assessment is nonsense. What's that Lifelock advertising slogan: "Why Monitor A Problem If You're Not Going To Fix It?

It's a tragedy. And Trump just cut funding for mental health by billions. Conservatives don't care, but boy do they want the tax cuts.

It's useless to blame the gun problem on mental health. Because, not only is it nebulous, and can't be fixed, but the numbers don't work. All it takes is for one crazed shooter to get through. We can pour all the money in the world into fixing mental illness, and yet that one mentally ill shooter will get through. Count on it.

Now, if we put a blanket on the guns, particularly at the point of sale, he won't get the gun in the first place.

Maddog wrote:“All of this could have been prevented,” said Melisa McNeill, the Broward assistant public defender who is leading the defense. “It makes me sick to my stomach because there are 17 people, including numerous children, who are dead and several others who are injured.”

The attorneys said the Snapchat incident alerted at least four local agencies — DCF, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Broward school district and Henderson Behavioral Health, one of the largest mental health providers in the county — that Cruz was in crisis and posed a potential danger to himself and others.

“Every single red flag was being thrown up by this kid, four days after his 18th birthday, and nothing was done to help him,” said Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes. “This community has been devastated. The system didn’t only fail him, it failed the entire community.”

What good would more common sense gun laws do, if there is no one with common sense to implement them?

The mentally deranged would not be able to get a gun in the first place. Granted, we wouldn't be able to incarcerate him without commitment authority, but we could keep the guns out of his hands with "common sense gun laws".

And before you argue he can get a gun on any street corner, let me say: not if they are scarce. If you start making guns scarce at the point of source, they will become scarce on the street corner. It might take a couple of years, but you've gotta start somewhere.